Some time in the year 1537, Almagro received a considerable reinforcement from Peru under the command of Juan de Rada; who likewise brought him letters patent from the king of Spain, by which he was appointed governor of 200 leagues of territory to the southward of the government which had been granted to Francisco Pizarro. By the same conveyance Almagro received letters from his friends in Peru, urging him to return to that country and to take possession of Cuzco, which they asserted was within the limits of the jurisdiction confided to him by his patent. But, as he entertained very sanguine ideas of the value of the conquest in which he was now engaged, he pursued his march towards the south, and passed the fatal Cachapoal or Rapel, regardless of the remonstrances of his Peruvian allies, who urged him to refrain from attempting to invade the country of the valiant Promaucians[63]. At the first appearance of the Spaniards, these brave Indians were astonished and terrified by the horses and thundering arms of the strangers; but soon recovering from the effects of their first surprise, they intrepidly opposed their new enemies on the banks of the Rio-claro. Despising their force, and ignorant of their bravery, Almagro placed his Peruvian allies in the first line, now considerably increased by an additional number whom Paullu had drawn from the Peruvian garrisons in Chili. But these troops were soon defeated by the Promaucians, and fell back in confusion on the line of Spaniards in the rear. The Spaniards, instead of remaining spectators of the battle, were now compelled to sustain the vigorous attack of the enemy; and, advancing with their horse, a furious battle was fought with considerable loss on both sides, and continued till night separated the combatants without either party having gained the victory.
[Footnote 63: Called Puramaucans by Garcilasso and Promocaes by Ovale, who names the Cauquenes and Peneos as their allies.--E.]
Although the Promaucians had sustained a heavy loss in this battle, they courageously encamped within sight of the Spaniards, determined to renew the fight next morning. Though the Spaniards had kept possession of the field, and considered themselves victorious according to the customs of Europe, they were very differently inclined from their valiant enemies. Hitherto they had been accustomed to subdue extensive provinces with little or no resistance, and became disgusted with an enterprise which could not be accomplished without much fatigue and danger, and the loss of much blood, having to contend against a bold and independent nation, by whom they were not considered as immortal or as a superior order of beings. It was therefore resolved by common consent to abandon the present expedition, yet they differed materially as to the conduct of their retreat; some being desirous to return into Peru entirely, while others wished to form a settlement in the northern provinces of Chili, where they had already received so much hospitality, and had acquired considerable riches. The first opinion was supported by Almagro, now strongly impressed by the suggestions of his friends in Peru to take possession of Cuzco. He represented to his soldiers the dangers to which a settlement would be exposed in so warlike a country, and persuaded them to follow him to Cuzco, where he expected to be able to establish his authority either by persuasion or force, pursuant to his royal patent.
Having determined to return into Peru, and having fatally experienced the dangers of the mountain road, Almagro resolved to march by the desert of Atacama in the maritime plain, by which he conducted his troops into Peru with very little loss in 1538. He took possession of Cuzco by surprise; and, after ineffectual negociations, he fought a battle with the brother of Pizarro, by whom he was taken prisoner, and beheaded as a disturber of the public peace. Such was the fate of the first expedition of the Spaniards against Chili, undertaken by the best body of European troops that had hitherto been collected in those distant regions. The thirst of riches was the moving spring of this expedition, and the disappointment of their hopes the cause of its abandonment.
SECTION V.
Second Expedition into Chili, under Pedro de Valdivia, to the commencement of the War between the Spaniards and Araucanians.
Having obtained absolute command of the Spanish possessions on the southern side of South America, by the defeat and death of his rival Almagro. Pizarro resolved to resume the conquest of Chili, which he conceived might become an important acquisition. Among the adventurers who had come from Spain to Chili, were two officers who held royal commissions to attempt this conquest, named Pedro Sanchez de Hoz, and Camargo. To Hoz had been confided the conquest of the country from the confines of Peru to the river Maulé; and to Camargo the remainder of the country beyond that river to the archipelago of Chiloé. Jealous of the interference of these officers in the country which he considered as his by right of discovery, Pizarro refused under frivolous pretences to confirm the royal nomination, and chose for the conduct of the expedition Pedro de Valdivia, his quarter-master, a prudent active and brave officer, who had acquired military experience in the wars of Italy, and who had already evinced a strong attachment to his party. On this occasion, Valdivia was directed to take Hoz along with him to Chili, and to allow him every advantage he could possibly desire in the allotment or repartition of lands and Indians in the expected conquest.
Valdivia accordingly set out from Cuzco in 1540, with a force of 200 Spaniards, and accompanied by a numerous body of Peruvian auxiliaries, taking likewise along with him some monks, several Spanish women, and a great number of European quadrupeds, with every requisite for settling a new colony in the country. On his march for Chili he pursued the same route with Almagro; but instructed by the misfortunes of his predecessor, he did not attempt to pass the Andes till the middle of summer, by which precaution he was enabled to enter Chili without incurring any loss. His reception there however, even in the northern provinces, was very different from that which had been experienced by Almagro. Informed of the conquest of Peru by the Spaniards, owing to which they were freed from the submission they had come under to the Incas, they did not consider themselves bound to transfer their obedience to the present invaders. The Copaipans accordingly began to attack Valdivia immediately on entering their country, assailing him at every step with much valour, but with very little conduct. Like barbarians in general, they were incapable of making a common cause with each other; and having been long accustomed to servitude under the Peruvians, during which all union among the northern tribes had been dissolved, they attacked their invaders in separate hordes as they advanced into the country, and without that steady and firm courage which stamps the valour of a free people in the defence of their liberties. In spite of this desultory and uncombined opposition from the natives, Valdivia traversed the provinces of Copaipo, Coquimbo, Quillota, and Melipilla, with Very little loss though much harassed, and arrived in the province of Mapocho, now called St Jago.
This province, which is more than 600 miles from the confines of Peru, is one of the pleasantest and most fertile in the kingdom. Its name of Mapocho signifies in the Chilese language, the land of many people; and according to the earliest writers respecting Chili, its population was then extremely numerous. This province, which borders on the Andes, is 140 miles in circumference, and is watered by the rivers Maypo, Colina, Lampa, and Mapocho, which last divides it into two nearly equal parts. In one place this river sinks into the earth, and after a subterraneous course of five miles, emerges again with an increase of its waters, and finally joins the river Maypo. The mountains of Caren, which terminate this province on the north, abound in gold, and in that part of the Andes which forms the eastern boundary, there are several rich mines of silver. Valdivia had penetrated thus far into the country on purpose to render it difficult for his soldiers to return into Peru, and he now determined to form a settlement in this province, which from its remote situation and natural advantages, seemed excellently calculated to become the centre of his intended conquests. Having selected with this view a convenient situation on the left shore of the Mapocho, he laid the foundation of the intended capital of the kingdom of Chili, on the 24th of February 1541, naming this new city St Jago, in honour of the tutelary saint of Spain. In laying out the ground plan of the intended city, he divided the whole into plots or squares of 4095 toises each[64], and allotted a quarter of each square as the scite of a house for each citizen, which plan has been followed in laying out all the other cities in Chili. One of these areas situated on one side of the great square was destined for the cathedral and bishops palace, and another for the house of the governor and the public offices. He then appointed a cabildo or magistracy, according to the usual forms in Spanish cities, from those persons in his small army that were best qualified for the purpose; and, for the protection of the new settlement, in case of attack from the Chilese, he built a fort on a hill in the centre of the city, which has since received the name of St Lucia.
[Footnote 64: Though not distinctly so expressed, this must be considered as square toises, making each side of the square 64 toises, or 384 feet. In a former account of the city of St Jago, the public square is described as being 450 feet on each side.--E.]